Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

72 reviews

macwiththemic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book broke me. One of the saddest books I’ve ever read. It kind of put me back together at the end but I’m not the same person I was. You should read it but also be prepared. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Blood, Physical abuse, Child death, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Rape, Suicide, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

Minor: Colonisation and Miscarriage

vashaava's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I still get chills thinking about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Gore, Rape, and Pregnancy

jocogr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Death, Child death, Violence, War, and Child abuse

ayoung720's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An amazing book full of heartbreak, tragedy, spirit, magic, and hope... I could not recommend this book enough. The characters are well-developed, allowing the reader to understand the motives and flaws of each of them, and while 95% of the action takes place on a single peninsula in a single village, the wider world feels fully realized. Many fantasy tropes are inverted on their head through and I can't wait to read more from Wang! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Rape, Miscarriage, and Domestic abuse

yesirea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book made me feel emotions that I never imagined that I would have ever felt from a book.  I had to take some breaks while reading this because I was crying too much. With such evocative writing, I love this book with my whole heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, War, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism

Minor: Miscarriage

cwallace1005's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

 This was a tough one to rate. The pacing of this book was... interesting. The first third was a little boring, to be honest. The middle third was exciting, but a little long and repetitive. The last third was emotionally interesting, but a definite drop in action. Definitely a unique structure for a book. This is also considered a standalone book, and while I agree that it does stand on its own, there are a lot of things set up that didn't feel complete by the end of the book. I believe this is sort of a prequel to another series from the author that she's stated she isn't going to continue. But the writing is mostly very good and the characterization is beautiful. I nearly rated this book 4 stars for Misaki alone, I love her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, Infertility, Sexism, Miscarriage, Death, Suicide, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Child abuse and Kidnapping

anastasiamakes's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I can be nervy about self-published books, but I'm so glad my book club chose to read this. Such amazing scope, fantastic worldbuilding and remarkable characters.  

The start was a little slow for me, and I didn't feel all of the side-backstory stuff (or their resolutions) blended in super well with the rest of the book; but a great read overall. I felt *so many feelings* reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexism

Minor: Homophobia

mitskimonday's review

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide

bibliofritz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, War, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

ichinoot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautifully written story about the tragedies and reality of war, in a world so different from our own, but still so grounded and human. An incredibly emotional story mixed with an amazing power system and very well written action, you will most definitely not want to put this book down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Murder, Gore, Suicide, Death, War, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Genocide, Sexual assault, Self harm, Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Infertility